Talk:Saipan

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Contents 1 Older talk 2 Old talk 3 saipansucks.com 4 U.S. Marine cemetery 5 Suggested improvements 6 Controversy Claims 7 Villages 8 Only Place to Join the US By Free Will? 9 My edits 10 Playing Pitches

[edit] Older talk

Saipan is an interesting tropical island with lots of nice, friendly people. I've had many good times there and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, just like any other place, some people like it and some people don't. Most people I know also had enjoyed their visits.

Roger

Saipan does suck. It's an island used for USA's own greed. A puppet and hell for unlucky people and heaven to korean and japanese.

hello

'Superman?'

[edit] Old talk

Issues, queries... make them here. - RoyBoy ⁸⁰⁰ 04:24, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] saipansucks.com

The following was removed from the article:

• SaipanSucks.com - Critical of Saipan

Why? And any objections to it being put back? - RoyBoy ^{[[User:RoyBoy/The 800}

I placed it back. CyberAnth 05:56, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] U.S. Marine cemetery

I notice that there is no mention of the military cemeteries that were on the island. Were they all moved to Hawaii? I know that the 2nd Division Marine cemetery was moved to the Honolulu Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Honolulu. Doc ♬ talk 21:44, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suggested improvements

The sentence on Garapan seems out of place in the middle of the history section. How about adding a section on geography and putting it in there? 84.74.79.109 00:09, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Controversy Claims

"Garment workers in Saipan often live and work in fenced-in compounds (some residents also have fenced-in compounds),"

This statement is true but the wording seems convoluted. The first part of the statement is I think trying to imply that the workers are semi-prisoners and the part in parenthesis is defensive?

"and they are often not permitted to leave the fenced-in areas without permission from the manager and without an escort, although against the law and previously prosecuted, to limited effect."

It seems to me that anyone who lives on Saipan (I do) and can see the multitudes of garment workers wandering around wherever and whenever they please knows this statement is not generally true.

David on Saipan 13:19, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

The info just needs to be sourced to updates that show such things largely ceased after the press about it. But other exploitation still happens.

Some former garment workers have asked local residents to enter into arranged marriages for a certain fee so they can obtain IR status.

Some who cannot go back home unless they first acquire the money to pay their creditors have resorted to prostitution.

Some of these women offer “sex now, pay later” schemes to their clients.[1]

Also see http://www.mvariety.com/calendar/january/08/frontpage/front01.htm

CyberAnth 06:06, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

David on Saipan -- I wrote the "Garment workers... compounds" portion, based on personal experiences including a tour of a garmentn facility and personally knowing many factory workers while living on Saipan for a few years in the mid-90s. Looks like the parenthetical defensive item was indeed defensive -- and added by someone else. It's a bit schizophrenic to have that parenthetical bit in the sentence. While some rich folks may live in fenced-in compounds (as they do on Guam), this has nothing to do with the reasons why garment workers is/were kept behind fences.

I agree, sometimes garment workers are allowed out, since they can sometimes be found working nights in the local hostess-bars. However, this represents a minority (or at least, it did in the mid-90s). While I lived there, the overwhelming majority of garment workers were only allowed outside the compounds if they were accompanied by a manager/handler, and only allowed a "no work" day once a month-- pointedly on a weekend, so they could not go to an open government facility to complain about conditions and learn what was legal.

I think the big problem on this page is to prevent apologists and cover-ups for what is (or was), in reality, a pretty ugly situation. Sethnessatwikipedia 10:12, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Villages

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since February 2007.

It would be nice to have a list of villages by population. -- Beland 00:08, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

This is difficult, Beland. Except for Garapan which has well-defined borders and lots of roads in a crisscross matrix, the "villages" on Saipan are little more than loosely defined suburban zones with just one or two roads running through them. Possible exception might be "Navy Hill", "San Roque", or possibly "Dan dan". Populations might also be very dependent on hazy or missing statistics, like overseas contract workers living in barracks and illegal aliens. Sethnessatwikipedia 10:18, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Only Place to Join the US By Free Will?

First of all, what does that mean? Second of all, what about Texas? Papercrab 17:04, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] My edits

I just made edits of various kinds to every part of this article, which are stated in a nutshell in my summary, but here is a bit more detail for reference:

• "most people think", "word has it", and "which knowledgeable persons agree are true" are blatant weasel-wording.

• The mention of Levi Strauss didn't make sense and shouldn't be included before further context can be added along with it. It said the workers' lawsuit was successful. Then it said Levi Strauss refused to reach a settlement. Then it said the case against them was dismissed. Then it talked about the money which apparently resulted from the success of the aforementioned lawsuit. Huh? What?

• Unless perhaps "utter degradation of the island and its inhabitants" can be cited as an actual quote, or a citation to that website where it provides more of a detailed explanation about just what that means in the website's context is made available, it is an inappropriate phrase for inclusion in this article. Much of the wording relating to that website was boastful or otherwise flauted neutrality.

Adrigon 12:19, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Playing Pitches

Is it true that the football pitches in Saipan are so bad that they are more like car parks than grass fields? Can anyone verify this claim & do you think it's worthy of mention? InSPURation 15:53, 25 March 2007 (UTC)